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Behavioral App Developer Lands $20 Million in Venture Funds
13 January 2015. Ginger.io, a company in San Francisco developing smartphone apps for monitoring mental state and wellness, raised $20 million in its second venture financing cycle. The new funding was led by first-round investors Khosla Ventures and True Ventures, with participation by undisclosed new investors. Ginger.io, a spin-off from human dynamics research at MIT’s…
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Foundation Supporting Open Science Initiatives
12 January 2015. Helmsley Charitable Trust is awarding $6.4 million in grants to three not-for-profit organizations that foster more open and collaborative science. The awards, from the foundation’s Biomedical Research Infrastructure Program, support new research platforms, data management tools, and training programs. The Biomedical Research Infrastructure Program aims to support new technologies and systems that…
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Roche Buys $1 Billion Stake in Cancer Genetics Company
12 January 2015. Pharmaceutical company Roche is acquiring a majority stake in Foundation Medicine, a company conducting personal genomic analyses for cancer patients. The investment, licensing, and collaboration deal is expected to bring Foundation Medicine, in Cambridge, Massachusetts more than $1 billion. Foundation Medicine — founded by scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School,…
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Biogen Idec, Columbia to Partner on Genetics Research
9 January 2015. Biotechnology company Biogen Idec and Columbia University in New York are collaborating on research into genetic causes of disease that aims to uncover targets for new treatments and help in the early stages of producing those treatments. The partnership is valued at $30 million, but timetable, intellectual property, and further financial details…
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Trial Shows Synthetic Insulin Reduces Alzheimer’s Symptoms
9 January 2015. A clinical trial shows a synthetic form of insulin delivered with a nasal spray can improve memory functions of people with mild cognitive impairment and early Alzheimer’s disease. Results of the study led by gerontology professor Suzanne Craft of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, North Carolina appear in an advance…
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Biotech Licenses Cell Research for Ebola Treatments
8 January 2015. H&P Labs, a biotechnology company in Montreal, is licensing research on cell proteins at a lab affliated with Harvard University to develop into treatments for Ebola. Financial details of the agreement were not disclosed. The current Ebola outbreak in Africa that began in March 2014 totals 20,747 cases resulting in 8,235 deaths,…
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Fertility Science Company Raises $115 Million in IPO
8 January 2015. OvaScience Inc., a developer of fertility treatments using a woman’s early-forming egg cells, issued its initial public offering of common stock, raising some $115 million. The Cambridge, Massachusetts company that trades on the NASDAQ exchange under the symbol OVAS, issued 2.3 million shares yesterday priced at $50.00. At 12 noon on 8…
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Biotech, Device Maker Partner on Retinal Disease Therapy
7 January 2015. GenSight Biologics, a Paris-based biotechnology company, and Pixium Vision, a developer of vision restoration systems also in Paris, are collaborating with a French vision and hearing foundation to design a therapy for people with retinitis pigmentosa, a genetic disorder causing people to lose their vision over time. The project is funded by…
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Novartis Licensing Biotechs’ Gene-Editing Technologies
7 January 2015. Pharmaceutical maker Novartis is licensing technologies from two biotechnology companies that enable the editing of human genomes to cure disease. Financial details of the agreements with Caribou Biosciences Inc. in Berkeley, California and Intellia Therapeutics in Cambridge, Massachusetts were not disclosed, but involve equity investments, initial payments and research support, and milestone…
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Genentech, 23andMe to Analyze Parkinson’s Genome Data
6 January 2015. Personal genomics company 23andMe plans to analyze the genomes of 3,000 of its clients to discover new Parkinson’s disease drug targets for biotechnology company Genentech, a division of the pharmaceutical company Roche. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. 23andMe, in Mountain View, California, provides genetic ancestry testing services, but also…